Sacredness of Place
Monasteries world-wide provide sacred space where seekers come together to encounter the Absolute. Like trees that need to put down roots in order to grow and bear fruit, Benedictines make a vow of stability to a particular community in a specific sacred place.
Our sacred setting is located in the Upper Susquehanna River Valley, a place of extraordinary beauty. Historically, this area was called "Onaquaga," home to the native Tuscarora people, as well as Joseph Brandt, a well-known Mohawk chief. Before the Revolutionary War, relations between the Native Americans and European settlers were unusually friendly. Later, alas, all of the local Native Americans in the area were massacred.
Onaquaga Mountain, just north of Windsor, was a meeting place for the chiefs of the Iroquois Confederacy and one of three sacred Native American mountains in New York State. Tuscarora Mountain, named for the Tuscarora people who lived in the South Windsor Valley, lies just east of Windsor, across the Susquehanna River.
